Thursday, March 14, 2013

Interview with HannaH Eisenmann (guest on "The Good Earth")

During our visit to LA last October we had the chance to meet lovely Miss HannaH Eisenmann and her family. Last night was the rerun of her Criminal Minds episode "The Good Earth" we're happy to share our little interview with the rising star...

When did you realize you wanted to be an actress?

I have always been around the entertainment business because of my parents. I really don’t remember a time I was not around it in some way. My first acting job was when I was about 6 months old. I was a “Crying Baby” on X Files. But it was after my brother decided to not do gymnastics that our parents actually asked us if we wanted to do acting. We both said yes and have been doing it ever since. I also love to sing and to write songs. I have been writing songs with my mom for a few years now. I have performed some of them live. I am learning to play the guitar and I hope to one day have an album out.

HannaH w/ her manager Karen Damico (Karma Talent)

What do like the most about acting?

I love the process. I love coming up with the back-story of my character. And learning about things I do not know about to help me understand my character. When I prepare for an audition even if I do not get the part by working hard myself, with my parents and my coach I always learn a lot that helps me for the next role. When I am filming I just love it! I love to be in front of the camera and I love to be on set!
For my role as Lexy on CM, I hand made a doll that I thought Lexy would always carry around with her. The doll was on set but you never see the doll on camera. Even though no one can see the doll it helped me with my character.

You have worked in television and on films, which do you prefer?

I like both because they are so different. When you do episodic it is really quick. Sometimes you only have hours to prepare to audition for producers and a lot of times you know that night or the next day if you got the part. And usually you are on set within days of landing the part. Because I do school on set besides filming there is not a lot of time to hang out and get to know everyone. I was not in school when I filmed Criminal Minds so I was able to hang out more than normal.

HannaH w/ her brother Stone

When you are doing a film especially one that is on location there is more time spent on filming so there is more time to get to know everyone. When we filmed our film FIREFALL we were in the Yosemite area for about 2 weeks. We all stayed in the same place so we were together 24/7. It really made us like a family.

You guest star in the “Good Earth” episode of Criminal Minds. Can you tell us about your time spent on the set? Do you have any stories you can share with us? Which actors did you get a chance to work with?

Yes I can.
I really liked how the director John Terlesky directed me. He was specific with what he wanted me to do and really communicated that to me.
I also loved the script that Bruce Zimmerman wrote and I was happy that I was chosen to play Lexy!

HannaH w/ John Terlesky (Director) & Anne Dudek

Anne Dudek who played my mom was so nice. When we were not filming she would show my mom and me pictures of her kids. In real life she is a really good mom.

Hannah w/ Erica Messer

It was also nice to see Erica Messer when she came to set. I talked to Kirsten Vangsness at lunchtime and I also got to speak to Matthew Gubler who always makes my brother and me laugh!

Hannah & her brother Stone w/ Matthew Gray Gubler

On one day of filming Shemar told my brother Stone and I all about his car and how he had refurbished it. Later that day the sound stage was really dark! Shemar got me when he came up behind me and scared me as he flipped me upside down and put me on his shoulder….. And laughing he said,"And now what are you going to do?" Which made me laugh!

HannaH & her brother Stone w/ Shemar Moore

(Spoiler alert if you have not seen this episode)On set I worked mainly with Anne Dudek and in the last scenes of the episode I worked with the CM Main Cast - Shemar Moore, Thomas Gibson and Jeanne Tripplehorn. Everyone kept saying how creepy it was! Shemar Moore even sent out an instagram of me in between takes.

Because I was buried in the ground everyone was extra careful to make sure I was ok. It was not CGI! I really was in the ground!
The entire crew really made me feel safe which is why I was smiling in between takes.
I also had my family there. A really amazing set teacher whose job besides teaching is to make sure minors on sets are safe. Even one of my Managers came down to set to make sure all went well.

Any other projects we can look forward to that you are working on?

Yes you can look for my brother Stone and me in our National VERIZON WIRELESS commercial. We play twins. I loved working with him! When we auditioned for it we had to do a lot of improv! That made the audition really a lot of fun! I hope we get to work together again soon!
You can see my family and I dressed in our Star Wars Costumes on the cover of and inside the March issue of WIRED MAGAZINE with Chris Hardwick from the Nerdist. Art Streiber took the photos and they are amazing!

WIRED Magazine cover Photo by Art Streiber

On the cover I am the Jawa by the R2D2 (which is our families R2D2 my Dad made). My Dad is Chewbacca, My Mom is the Boushh and Stone is the other Jawa sitting down. We are also in other photos inside the magazine.
We were asked to do the photo shoot because my Mom and Dad are members of the 501st Legion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/501st_Legion It is a Star Wars Costuming group that dresses up in screen accurate costumes for Charity events and for High Profile events. As a family we have been doing charity events with the 501st Legion for about 3 years now. We love to put smiles on people’s faces. Dressing in my Jawa and Ewok costumes actually helped me with my part on Criminal Minds for the last scenes of the show.

Do you have a website where fans can get the latest info about your projects?

“I just wanted to say thank you to sindee from the Criminal Minds Fanatic Blog for interviewing me. Thank you to all of the fans that helped my brother and me by sending us snowflakes. And I also want to thank all of the fans for watching the show!”Sincerely, HannaH Eisenmann

Big THANKS again to HannaH and her family for the great day in LA and for taking the time to answer those questions for us !!